More “Fassetts” of My Life

April 9, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 5 Comments

This has been a really nice week for my budding little business venture. I’ve had some new students, and some old friends, and sometimes both together, which is REALLY fun.

This week’s Diva Challenge was a Use My Tangle (UMT) from Lynn Mead, CZT, from Washington State. Her tangle, Fassett, is really quite cool, and you can do so much with it. I taught it in my class this week on Black Tiles (Beyond the Basics: Black Tiles) and we had some fun with it in gold Gelly Roll Metallics.

We had a really fun class last Saturday, with Nancy Dawes and her family visiting from Vancouver Island. Everyone folded and worked on their origami.

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Nancy caught me in action!

And she posted her finished ball on her FaceBook page (Crafting Passions.) You can also check out her blog here – http://craftingpassions.blogspot.com. She does some awesome things!

I finished the one I started in class too, but only just this morning!

I tend to get a bit…carried away. I like to say I never do anything half-assed…I do it full assed! The scattered gold pebbles in my Tipple are reminiscent of the beach sand by the Hotel Del Coronado, which we visited on Monday with our guests!

So pretty!

ok…I have a million loads of laundry to finish, journals to work on, quilts to cut bits for…I know…get back to work! Next week, look for journal pics. I am really excited to finally be putting my “stash” to use (thanks for the push into the glue, Nancy!)

Stay Crazy My Friends!

Sorting Stacks

March 30, 2016March 30, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 10 Comments

First off, I hope everyone had a

As typical, mine was quiet, as Mike was at work. I did get a lot done, and the house got cleaned!

This week’s Diva Challenge (#261) was issued by guest blogger Jan Reiter, CZT, who challenged us to Stack Bijou. Now, I have to tell you, I was a little intimidated by this. That seemed like a lot of work! And we know how famous I am lately for not finishing anything. So…I rummaged through all my “pretty paper” collection that isn’t particularly good for tangling on in great quantity, and cut up 6 “stacks” and a Bijou-sized (2×2 inch) tile. And I stared at it for a little while. Then I went to town…and I tangled them from the biggest to the smallest. It went a lot faster than I thought it would, but then I always make things more complicated than they need to be!

This was a lot of fun. And believe it or not, the Bijou-sized tile and the far outer frame are from the same paper! Since brown was my “theme” I went with a sepia Micron too, so that was nice, and a copper Gelly Roll on the accents.

UPDATE: I realized while I was filing this weeks photos after I posted the blog that this Diva Challenge marked 100 & 101 consecutive challenges!

So you know I haven’t been slacking, I have been busy with shop models for upcoming classes. I know you want to join us this Saturday when Origami meets Zentangle! The project is based on a design from Hans Werner Guth, called “Jump” and tangle inspired by Dorian Eng, CZT.

To sign up, head on over to the Class Schedule Page!

I have been participating in a Round-Robin tangle with 3 other CZT’s and received my tiles back yesterday (and I’m sending the next batch out today, I promise!) I think they came out really cool, and it was a lot of fun working with everyone on this. We all have really different styles, and that melded together very well.

And…So you don’t think I missed last week’s Diva Challenge (#260), I did that in my journal in church this week. Yes…I listened to the talk…and yes…this helps me concentrate on it rather than making my grocery list in my head or thinking about what I am cooking for lunch. I love Shattuck, it is such a versatile tangle!

And, for everyone that knows me, no week is complete without a little rock n’ roll! We headed to Las Vegas last week to see Billy Idol at the House of Blues. I was deaf in my right ear for a good while since we were next to the speaker, but what a show, and what great seats! It is hard to believe he is 60! (hubba hubba!)

Back to packing for TangleU! Here’s a sneak peek at what you will be able to score at CharKat’s after I get back…

Tangle them…Color them…Embellish them! Wear Your Art!

Stay Crazy My Friends!

That Green Time of Year

March 15, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 8 Comments

Yep, that’s right…it’s March! I love the month of March. Not only is it the month of my birth, but the weather starts being nice again, the sun is out, the grass is green…and…we all get to be Irish for a day.

We had a couple of really fun Celtic themed classes over the weekend, so that led right into this week’s Diva Challenge (#259) “A Touch of the Irish.” This was one of those pieces I was particularly proud of when I finished it. I have not forged into the ZenGems craze because I did all this stuff 20 years ago when I was designing jewelry, but I broke out my Prismacolor Premier pencils and some luscious hand-made Garza Papel (from Spain) and pulled this off.

I know…huh? I keep looking at it..lol.

If you want to see the steps I took for the gems, check this out…

I didn’t get a blog up last week, it was my birthday…I joked to one of my students who is a professional cake decorator that she should bring me a birthday cupcake (since I am watching my girlish figure) and she arrived with this:

That is one HUGE cupcake…and it was really tasty too.

I did get the Diva Challenge (#258 UMT Rautyflex) done too, although I just did it in my Tangle Journal.

There was some unusually beautiful skies here this week, with pretty vapor trails. I loved how they made a pretty perfect X there…

I will have the April Schedule up by the end of the week. I am working on a sample for a class, so be sure to save the date (April 2) if you are in the area. Origami meets Zentangle, and it is so fun to fold!

That is all for now…Stay Crazy My Friends!

Ghosts…

February 17, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 6 Comments

Have you ever felt haunted by your past? I think our past is a part of our journey in life, and shapes us into the people we become. You can either learn from it and grow from it, or let it drag you down. This week, Diva (challenge #255) asked us to revisit a tile/tangle from our past, to see how we have grown. I have only been tangling about 3 years, but I have everything I did in my first year in a book, to show my students MY learning process. While I did have a smallish art background, I like them to see how much I have learned and what practicing has done to my art. For this quest, I went back to my very first tile, pre-class with a CZT, learning out of One Zentangle a Day.

That first one was done on card stock from my limited scrapbooking stash. I never realized how small I worked until I tried to re-do it! (I think this is a trend I’ve noticed with most of the CZT’s that have posted…all our early work was tiny, and now it is much bigger!)

So here is the “new” version. See the style I have developed into!

And to bring up another ghost, I didn’t get this finished in time for Diva #252: Using a Tangle as a String. I used a giant Cadent.

Pretty things have been made at the shop this week! We had an awesome group for a Zentangle 101 class, and I threw in a little Valentine, too. What prodigies!

And on Saturday, we made Valentine cards and frames, based on Joanne Fink’s Zendangles. Here are the ones I did:

And my Valentangle for Diva #254 that I couldn’t post because it was Mike’s present!

And a thank you card for Mike’s mom, who has been bestowing her stash of all her calligraphy and card making supplies. My faux calligraphy skills still need some work!

I am working on the schedule for March, and it should be fun! I should have it posted by the end of the week.

Found and Tangled Poetry, the Irish Poets Edition in time for St. Patrick’s Day. And some exploration of Celtic Knots and Tangles. (This is just an ATC I did with some ColorBursts…pretty backgrounds!)

Tangle Journals, from January, will make a repeat appearance. This will be an ongoing class, you can join in any time, or whatever you like. First time attendees will need to buy the Journal Kit, returning students can buy refills if they need them. Every other month we will explore a new set of tangles.

And I will add a Sunday afternoon Alcohol Ink class, working on ceramics. They make lovely decorations and gifts. I finished this one today.

Whew…I didn’t realize I had done so much work this week! (I guess it was really 2 weeks, since I didn’t post anything last week.)

Namas’ cray my friends…stay crazy and make stuff!

Back to Basics

January 13, 2016January 13, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 4 Comments

Zentangle is an awesome art form. So often, once we get familiar with everything, we tend to dive off into the realm of Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA) and forget what the roots are and why we started this in the first place. I am guilty of it, but find that being a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) that I have to intentionally pull myself back to teach the basics.

So it was quite appropriate for what I have been working on this week to get pulled Back to Basics for The Diva’s 250th Challenge. I’ve started a Tangle Journal with a class for a few of my students, to break down the tangles we use, and find “tangleations” of them. And in this weeks San Deigo/Temecula Zentangle Friendship group, we did a page in a spiral bound tangle journal that pulled together 4 very random tangles and a string from tanglepatterns.com to make that most basic of black ink on white paper, original Zentangle.

So that was fun…Here is a picture that Jan took of us all working diligently…

And here are some of the pages from my other Journal Project, which are basically mono-tangles.

I have just started Mandala Magic 2016 with Julie Gibbons. I’m quite excited, as I have been so drawn to round things lately (really, since I started my foray into the art world) and this is already quite an eye-opening experience. I did a little warm up exercise in a “self portrait” to put in my journal for this project. I am not much for drawing anything that actually looks like real life (yet) so I stamped the eyes and nose with a cute little stamp I have, and tangled in the rest. I know…looks just like me!

So, this weeks’ blog is being produced on my iPad Pro, trying out the new keyboard, trying to make sure that I can “take my show on the road” successfully and still stay connected. Hopefully, it looks better on the browser window than it does here!

Names’ cray my friends, keep making stuff…crazy is better!

New Year’s Renewal

January 4, 2016January 4, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 13 Comments

I would like to think of every January 1st as a time to review and renew my goals from the previous year. Goals are a good thing. They give you a road map to follow. But sometimes, that road changes.

My road took a sharp left turn last summer when I decided to open CharKat’s Creative Insanity. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever be in business. It has been a challenge, that’s for sure. I love what I do, and I know that will spread out and bring more people in this year!

There is also renewal in this week’s Diva Challenge (#249). This is the 5th Anniversary of the challenge, and we have been tasked to a DuoTangle of Diva Dance and Auraknot. I already had this tile with a star on it, that I had sprayed with Shimmer Spray…so I thought it was particularly festive for this auspicious occasion!

I know the holiday’s got away from me, and this is my first post of the new year. I have, however, been pretty busy on tangly-type stuff!

First up, this cute little cactus. I was experimenting with stitching on the tile. Cumbersome! You have to poke the holes first….

Then, another one of Dorian Eng’s cute ornaments that she did a video for Sakura on. This time on Renaissance Tan, with blues.

And then this nifty 8×8 scratch board piece.

I did a little coloring to see what that was all about.

I also had some kids over to the studio, and we had some fun making tangle journals and learning tangles. These are mine. The glue was drying on their decorations, so I didn’t get photos of theirs.

And in keeping with this year’s mantra (Finish What You Started) I pulled a few tiles out of the UFO bin and put some new spin on them:

This one is on Fabriano Medioevalis paper…it has such a nice feel to it. I used Ann E. Grasso’s 8n1 Stencil for this.

And Diva #247: African Artist by Swiss CZT Tina Hunker:

So be sure to check the schedule, lots of fun classes coming up.

Namas’cray – stay crazy in the new year!

Behind in the Trees

December 4, 2015December 4, 2015 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 5 Comments

Wow…I am so behind this week! So behind I actually missed last week!

I guess I’ll start with this week. Dilip Patel, the first CZT in India, was the Guest Blogger for the Diva this week. In his prompt (#246) he implored us to think about deforestation, and to do a monotangle of trees (or a tree.) I have been practicing new tangles as they come out in my new Creativity Planner and thought that the new tangle, Fleavy, would make a lovely tree. When I finished, I felt like coloring it. (yes..I know its not a true monotangle, because I added other things, but I like it anyway!)

And since I missed last week’s Diva (#245 Hollibaugh) I did it in my purse journal (Midori MD with the extra slip cover) at church while listening to Rev. Susan talking about manifesting joy. I guess my joy is a bit of a puzzle!

So I guess that brings me to why I missed last week. I took the holiday week (here in the US, Thanksgiving) to participate in Julie Gibbons‘ free 5 Days of Mandala Magic. It was pretty intense, but a good introduction to her year long course that starts in January. (I signed up! Registration closes soon, so get there if you want!)

The first day, we studied the circle (sorry, just circles on the page, no pics of those.)

The second day, we drew our first proper mandala, a lotus. I got a bit cheery color wise (still learning about color meanings so I still am pretty basic.

The third day was concentric circles.

The fourth day was a hamsa.

Day 5 was the Flower of Life.

So now you know what kept me busy!

I did get some finishing done on some cute Kumihimo things as well. Most of them are in the bookstore at my church (Center for Spiritual Living Temecula Valley)

And Finished a few ornaments (and forgot to take pictures of some of them…ack!)

And got in some work on my ginormous mandala. (total size is 20″, working with Twinkling H2O’s and Acrylic Ink with a brush. Very time consuming. Created using Margaret Applin’s Medallion Master Set.)

AND…I did a bunch of these for cards…

So see, I have have NOT been slacking!

Be sure to check out the class schedule, there is some fun stuff coming up. Mandala Monday (the 21st) we will be painting mandalas on rocks. Lauren teaches a great class for this, and it should be very Zen to get you in the right frame of mind for the holidays.

Namas’Cray my friends. Be crazy and make stuff!

Tripping Around Tripoli

November 20, 2015November 20, 2015 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 5 Comments

The December schedule is up at the shop. I’ve included lots of times for making its and ornament, and a new series of Kumihimo classes that you can make some wonderful gifts with.

We had our first Mandala Monday this week. Lauren and I will be team teaching, taking turns leading a Mandala exploration each month. I led this month, with freeform Mandalas. We learned to grow them from a seed in the middle, which is pretty cool.

I did mine on a piece of papyrus with the Fudenosuke brush pen and Gelly Roll Glaze.

Next month, Lauren will be teaching her Mandala technique on rocks! Be sure to join us on Monday, December 21, from 6-9. $25 studio fee plus materials.

We also had some fun with Fall Colors this last weekend, exploring the Tints on Tan technique.

There is still time to get in on this fun class, as I have another abbreviated version on Monday, November 23, from 6-9 pm. Includes ALL your materials!

Ok…I’m the first to admit that Tripoli isn’t usually my favorite tangle. But, since the Diva (#244) says use it, I use it. (She’s so mean!) I took a couple of shots at it…First in my Creativity Planner. (Pardon the bleed through, I changed pens this week when I found the MicroPerm was doing this…using the Acurit Waterproof in my planner now.)

Then on an ATC I had colored with Ken Oliver’s Color Bursts with a Japanese calligraphy brush pen.

And then on the funky chalkboard painted ornament. I used mostly Sakura Decorese on this, but tried the PenTouch too (on the Printemps.)

I know it was a bit of a trying week for everyone around the world, with all the chaos and calamity, but I find a lot of peace in mediating in my journal. This is what happened this week.

And, just so he doesn’t feel left out…Bailey decided to ride around on my shoulder most of the evening a few days ago. To put this into perspective…he weighs 15 pounds…

So Namas’cray my friends. Hug your neighbor and keep peace in your hearts.

Some Gave All (And Just a Little More)

November 11, 2015 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 6 Comments

I sit here writing this on Veteran’s Day (Remembrance Day) and it makes me think about a lot of things. Most of my readers/followers know I spent a good amount of my life in the Military (Navy 1981-85, Army 1985-1993 and 2005-2012) and around the same (Dad served from 1952-1974.) Between me, my dad, and my grandfather, we have covered every war and conflict since World War II. I cannot begin to tell you what this means to me.

Daddy in Vietnam.

Me, with the Multinational Force and Observers in Sinai, Egypt.

I learned a new technique this week at our San Diego Tangle Club…Found and Tangled. You basically repurpose book pages into new poetry and tangle on them (look for a class on this after the first of the year!) This page from Dante’s Inferno called my name, and was a fitting tribute to my brothers and sisters in arms.

And if you are in the Temecula area, I have a monthly free Zentangle class for Veterans and Active Duty Service Members. 3rd Wednesday of the month (November 18th this month). You must pre-register, and seating is limited to 10 free students (and your guests will receive a $10 discount.) (951) 972-3015 or CharKatTangles@gmail.com.

So this week’s Diva Challenge (#243) was to give “Just a Taste”…tangle a little bit. This is REALLY hard to do! Some things you just keep wanting more and more of! So, in order to limit myself a bit, I used a black tile. Cyme (Zentangle) and Heartswell (Helen Williams).

Join us on MeetUp. I have a new Monthly rotation coming up, Mandala Monday. 3rd Monday of the month, we will explore different mandala techniques.

The December schedule will be finalized later this week. Late November and December focus will be on making gifts and ornaments (using Zentangle and a variety of other methods.) Here is a bit of a teaser:

Namas’-cray my friends…stay crazy!

Gourding Along

November 4, 2015November 5, 2015 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 7 Comments

So…it is only Wednesday! And here I am!

I was on the verge of a major depressive episode yesterday. I haven’t been feeling too good, and it just happens that way sometimes. Not sleeping, etc. and it starts a cycle. But…I put pen to paper…or stick to scratch paper…a number of times yesterday, and managed to thwart it. I love that Zentangle works that way.

I rarely practice tangles before I do them on a tile, but for this week’s Diva Challenge (#242) using the new Official Zentangle tangle Gourdgeous I felt the need to try it out. Just used my fountain pen that I use in my planner (neat Creativity Planner from Kim Anderson at The Purple O on etsy.)

So I felt pretty good about it…and was cleaning off my desk and found the stack of Scratch and Sketch Artist’s Tiles on my desk that I had not previously tried…and gave that a go. They are a bit hard to photo, and they definitely don’t scan well.

So I continued on…doesn’t’ this look like it would make a great pumpkin? I am in Fall mode now that the weather is finally cool enough to wear long pants (although in Southern California, it feels like we skipped directly from Summer in the 90’s to Winter in the 50’s overnight!) So pumpkin it was! Still on a bender with my Derwent Tinted Charcoals.

As I was finishing this up, I glanced up at the walls at the shop, and realized it is absolutely covered in Gourdgeous! Panel curtains from Ikea, rather breaks up a really LONG wall!

So that’s all my Gourdy stuff for the week!

I spent a good amount of time doing some arranging at the shop yesterday, and have some great trinkets ready for Christmas shopping. Journals, ceramics, jewelry (some hand made by me, some hand made in Peru), and ornaments. I will be running some specials on Small Business Saturday if you are in the area and looking for neat gifts and art supplies for giving!

And don’t forget, we have Buttercream cookie class coming up next week!

Namas’cray for now! (The crazy in me recognizes and honors the crazy in you!)